Chinese Patent No. CN200620115158.4 discloses an electrical connector, and each terminal includes a contact portion, an elastic arm, a support arm and a solder ball fixing device. The solder ball fixing device is formed by a first retaining portion, a second retaining portion and a stopping portion. The first retaining portion is connected to a bottom end of the elastic arm, the second retaining portion is connected to a bottom end of the support arm, and the first retaining portion and the second retaining portion extend downwards in parallel to form an accommodating space. Two clamps are formed at a bottom end of the first retaining portion, and the stopping portion is formed between the two clamps and bent to be perpendicular to the first retaining portion, and extends towards an interior of the accommodating space.
A solder ball can be retained in the solder ball fixing device by the first retaining portion, the second retaining portion and the stopping portion, and under the action of the stopping portion, the solder ball can be located in the same plane, thereby achieving electrical connection of the terminal to a circuit board.
However, currently available electrical connectors, such as the electrical connector disclosed in the patent set forth above, may have the following problems.
1. Since the two clamps are in the shape of a flat plate, and no fixing structure is disposed between the two clamps to prevent the solder ball from sliding down, the solder ball retained in the solder ball fixing device may slide down between the two clamps or fall off due to a large external force, thereby resulting in that the function of retaining and fixing the solder ball is not desirable.
2. Since the second retaining portion is vertically disposed, and the solder ball may have a surface tension, the second retaining portion cannot break the surface tension of the solder ball when the solder ball is melted by heating, and as a result, the solder ball is only softened, but cannot be completely melt and bonded to the first retaining portion and the second retaining portion, which may easily lead to an open solder connection or a cold solder joint, thereby resulting in poor electrical connection.
Therefore, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the art to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.